Tamarind kernel powder (TKP) has been employed in a large variety of industrial applications; most notably as a sizing for textiles. A limitation with this product has been that it is cloudy, thus precluding certain applications where clarity is essential, e.g., as a replacer for pectin. Attempts in the past to produce a more useful product have included methods of extracting either the polysaccharide or the insolubles from the crude TKP. These methods have included filtration, centrifugation, alcohol extraction, air classification, etc.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,287,350 teaches the art of purifying TKP to obtain tamarind seed jellose (TSJ), the polysaccharide constituent of TKP, also known as gellose, polyose, and pectin. The process requires bleaching of the coarsely ground tamarind seed kernels which are then dispersed in a 25-fold amount of water. After injection of steam, the solution is filtered and the TSJ precipitated by using a sulfate and alcohol. U.S. Pat. No. 3,399,189 teaches the art of making a cold-water soluble product from TKP by extracting the polysaccharide from tamarind seed kernels with isopropanol at 80.degree. C., the polysaccharide then being dispersed in a 25- to 35-fold amount of water. Injection of steam and subsequent filtration yield a cold-water-soluble product which is recovered from solution by roll drying or precipitation with an organic solvent.